The Comfort of Mindless Obedience

When is information true and useful and when is it just “propaganda?” Why in fact is an image or phrase or animated art sequence “propaganda” rather than it simply being a “lie?” What about acceptable lies that define our society as much as they degrade it—for example commercials that obviously hype a product with untruths or political advertisements full of unachievable platitudes.

It can be instructive to look back at the early days of “mass society” and the need to impart vital national information before the ubiquitous presence of personal radios, televisions and telephones in every citizen’s home. World War I and World War II provided the framework worldwide for the mass “propaganda poster.” It’s amazing how similar the mass propaganda posters of the warring nations were – in their patriotic images just as much as in their simplistic messages of sacrifice and belief in the cause. Many are familiar with Uncle Sam, born in WWI and Rosie the Riveter from WWI, whose “Yes, we can,” was repurposed in the 60s and again recently as an Obama campaign maxim.

The messages seem simple and quaint today, instilling the glow of some kind of nostalgia. Yes, the point of propaganda was always to get us back in line, onto the straight and narrow for God and country or for country and religion alone, the conundrum that the opposition were doing the same was easily handleable without too much intellectual athleticism. In fact, sometimes mass conformity feels good – like a U2 concert. We’re being sold that something is way more important that it really is, but we don’t mind … so it’s “propaganda” as opposed to being a “lie.”

“We’re being sold that something is way more important that it really is, but we don’t mind … so it’s “propaganda” as opposed to being a “lie.”

“Us” vs. “Them”

In researching the subject the Mass Propaganda Poster didn’t make it through the Vietnam War era. If it showed anywhere as a graphic equivalency, it was on anti-war T-shirts. It wasn’t just improved TV technology and the daily coverage of that national struggle (in the jungles of Nam and the streets of American cities). It was also that the war was too confusing, to ambiguous, to be reduced to the simple “us” vs. “them” formula of the two wars that had come before. So iconic poster art of young American men fighting evil devils wasn’t just ineffectual, but insultingly simplistic.

So instead, the mass propaganda art posters of the 60s were the psychedelic rock-n-roll posters promoting the new phenomenon of guitar heroes. The cultural “war” it seems was better suited to the creativity of simple iconic poster art than the complex disaster of war. Of course, the use of mass propaganda in posters was reaching a zenith at the same time in China as part of the Cultural Revolution in every home, every workplace and every government operation.

Today, while “actual” political propaganda posters are still occasionally put out on the street of our cities to vex the establishment by artists like Robbie Conal, there is the new phenomenon, best exemplified by artist Shepard Fairey’s “OBEY” posters and stickers, of “faux (false) propaganda art,” which mocks and comments on the very concept of mass propaganda itself. The artworks often call up classic images from the “loose lips sink ships” days of war era propaganda to stir our patriotic fervor for battling the Sith and joining in other causes. Star Wars and Star Trek are favorite subjects used for the primary context of these fake posters, as well as many video games and movie and TV franchises. Faux propaganda memes are a regular subject for deviantART satirists as can be seen on this page.

Faux propaganda art has an eerie vibe – like playing with fire. Remember, this was the stuff utilized, for real, by feared despots to drive others to countenance the murder of millions. But now it seems so childishly safe in its simple messages. One has a feeling of nostalgia, even—as if any evil has been sapped from the subject, and with the viewer being a survivor of a bygone era. We are no doubt being manipulated and “sold” on more contemporary issues by more sophisticated means of mass propaganda flooding our brains daily—but at least these colorful beasts from the past are easily mastered for our simple enjoyment.

Once again, Do we have any scholars out there who might shed an even more educative light on the subject?

Has anyone been studying or reading extensively about the history of Propaganda Art?

Would love to hear opinions, analysis and corrections from those of you even more familiar with the history of propaganda art than I.

CommentaryFrom deviantART's Advisor in Chief

The notion of “faux propaganda” is false because it remains propaganda. When my kids asked me what I did during the Vietnam War, my answer was that I fought the war against the war in Vietnam; and that my side won. The strongest image I have of that movement is, of course, the peace sign. The second strongest is a raised red fist. The first of these symbols was borrowed from the anti-nuclear movement of the very early 1960’s. The second was borrowed from communist propaganda posters of the 1920’s and possibly earlier.

Shepard Fairey’s Obama poster was propaganda—for good, I believe, just like the peace sign—even though it owes its context to posters of Mao Tse Tung and the now high art of Andy Warhol. The red fist was propaganda for bad as it was to become to be understood and then it was used for good, as I believed; and will likely be considered bad or good again in another round of propaganda to come. But what’s interesting to me is that the stylized look of a Mao poster, the peace sign and the raised fist will always be considered propagandistic in a Pavlovian sense. You see them and you know them to be propaganda.

When is information true and useful and when is it just “propaganda?” Why in fact is an image or phrase or animated art sequence “propaganda” rather than it simply being a “lie?” What about acceptable lies that define our society as much as they degrade it - - for example commercials that obviously hype a product with untruths or political advertisements full of unachievable platitudes.Writers: $techgnoticDesigners: $marioluevanos

And are you siding with Mitt Romney when he said he wouldn't move heaven and earth to get Bin Laden? Good to know you're being honest about the fact you don't really give a damn about 9/11. As for Assad, yes he's still killing people. Would you have us put boots on the ground to stop him, thus potentially starting a war with Russia? No? Then shut up. We've already spent trillions of dollars playing international sheriff under G W Bush, we don't need any more of that kind of reckless stupidity.

You want to talk about our country's credit rating? One of the times it was downgraded is entirely thanks to the GOP shutdown of Government in 2013 which cost the economy 24 billion dollars. www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/f…

If anyone's eyes need to be opened its yours. The republicans of today have done absolutely nothing for the American people.

WARNING! Carry on reading! Or you will die, even if you only looked at the word warning!

Once there was a little girl called Clarissa, she was ten-years-old and she lived in a mental hospital, because she killed her mom and her dad. She got so bad she went to kill all the staff in the hospital so the More-government decided that best idea was to get rid of her so they set up a special room to kill her, as humane as possible but it went wrong the machine they were using went wrong. And she sat there in agony for hours until she died.

Now every week on the day of her death she returns to the person that reads this letter, on a monday night at 12:00a.m. She creeps into your room and kills you slowly, by cutting you and watching you bleed to death.

Now send this to ten other pictures on this one site, and she will haunt someone else who doesn't. This isn't fake. apparently, if u copy and paste this to ten comments in the next ten minutes u will have the best day of ur life tomorrow. u will either get kissed or asked out, if u break this chain u will see a little dead girl in your room tonight. in 53 mins someone will say i love you or im sorry

It`s simply declared. Everybody incl. me-- needs in deed--something to believe in,or to long for.That`s a fact none can deny.The difficultyis to make different what about the legal and right way.It`s the context for everything in Life. Excapt it and you fare well.

Examen any subject of interest from as many points of view as posable not just the US corporate media, check other countries, our small but insightful independent press... Journalists, DemocracyNow.org, FSTV, Link TV just to name a few. There are a couple of really good 'conservative' UK publications too were the C word has very little in common with our version... just my 2 cents.

Be free thinkers and express yourself. The whole idea of Art is to share your perspective, and let others make their own conclusion. Even if McDonalds wants to lie, and call their "food" food, they have the right too. It is up to each of us to determine what is real, and a lie. If we took freedom out of art, art itself would be pointless, and freedom less art is propaganda. After all, we all have the ability to think, it is not a right, but an inherent ability. I don't choose sides, I choose truth, there is a big difference.

Most of what I see when I watch commercial TV is propoganda. That's why I never watch TV. Not anymore. The propaganda I see on TV goes deeper than "us" vs "them" - they are going for US vs US. Divide and conquer. On one CSI-type affair, a man was simply walking down the street when he was doused with gasoline and set on fire. My wife was aghast watching him lay on the ground and burn to death while a crowd of bystanders did nothing. She exclaimed: "Why doesn't anyone stop to help the man? Throw a coat over him of somethiing? Jeez, he's burning to death." I would have told her that she was being indoctrinated to believe that this is the way people act. You DO NOT help someone in trouble. YOU DO NOT STAND UP AS A GROUP. No, you watch him burn. And welcome to the Matrix.

Another excursion into TV land got me a glimpse of some man's dream sequence. He dreamed he was back on that jet that hit the Pentagon on 9/11. He ran through the wreckage and burniing fire to rescue someone who was trapped in row two. Great piece of propaganda in taht no jst hit the Pentagon on 9/11. No passeners were ever found. No luggage. No jet engines. Nothing. Because there was no jet.

Except in the minds of those who want to convince you there was.

Solution: It starts when you turn off the TV. Stay as far away from commercial TV, processed foods, tap water, Aspartame, Newsweek, Time, FOX, CNN, over the counter and RX. Get out of the matric.

I do and don't agree with you. I totally agree that propaganda is omni-present now, but at the same time (maybe I'm not american, that's what helps ) I can differentiate propaganda and reality, so the propaganda doesn't have much effect on me.

Answers to your questions: 1) Yes, I do like faux propaganda because it teaches me to recognise the real thing when I see it.

2) Yes, but not among the young. The young are always susceptible to such manipulation. It is like sex. Older people must guide the through the process of coping with such stimuli.

3) Yes, surprisingly enough. Although, I think that the two candidate chosen played right into the hands of Democrats. Stop and think about it for a moment. We were first given a choice between an outright leftist in Barak Obama, but then an obvious fascist in John McCain. Praise all that is wisdom that we chose Barak Obama. The next time we were given a choice between Barak Obama and the inventor of Obamacare, Mitt Romney. Throw in the effectiveness of Obama's campaign machine, backed by all the wigged out billionaires in the software business, like Bill Gates and Eric Schmitt and you have an all but guaranteed victory for Obama. Not that Romney was ever a bargain. He wasn't. He was "Obama-lite."

Of course, the GOP is sticking with the advice of the ever bumbling and ineffectual Karl Rove--a rich ne'er-do-well if I have ever seen one. I fully expect to see the United States go the way of NAZI Germany. President Obama's body language speaks volumes. So does Harry Reid's behaviour in the US Senate. The Democrats are behaving as though there won't be any Republicans at all tomorrow and they might well be right on that score.

4) I think of propaganda as a tool or a weapon, if you will. Thinking people are not susceptible to it, but then how many of us go around thinking about everything we see and hear? I try to and it makes me a pain in the ass to live with. Even I am susceptible to this "propaganda" art. Why? Because art itself is a form of communication. If it failed to convey ideas then there would be no need for it at all. It would purely be a waste of time. The bulk of everything you see on television is intended to either make you think about something a certain way, or to not think at all. It has gotten so bad that I only barely watch it at all.

Morden Faux Propaganda is fun reminders of the past properganda. It shows the power of them. I do feel like its not bad for it as long as they can bring out the topics needed to be talked about. But we have to remember to find what is the message. Thats the most important part.

I think modern propaganda art is vital to our society, there are hundreds of things wrong that need to be called out especially, with complacency and mindless obedience. Art can be a wonderful way to call people out on their faults. Even with a simple Star Wars war propaganda poster, I don't know if everyone truly realizes it was war since the entire movie was sugar-coated in Hollywood. It's good to have the posters even if it just sparks something small in the back of your mind. The poster "'Us' vs. 'Them'" wasn't meant for you to dispose of all your electronics and run for the hills, but it makes you think about things again, maybe even fear things a little, maybe to do what little you can to make a small step for our society, maybe nothing at all. But it shows that there is something slightly wrong. On the other hand you have the Obama HOPE signs that, in my opinion, were more of advertisement created by Shepard Fairey that helped Obama's campaign. I'm not sure if that matches the "propaganda" category but Fairey did want Obama to become president and he did what he could to make it happen.

These "propaganda" posters are not brainwashing people, just trying to make them think for themselves. Sometimes that's the most powerful thing you can do. There's a quote from V for Vendetta to answer the question though: "Artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover up the truth."

I could post any work of art "that looks dark or evil" but EVEN WITHOUT INTENTION OF MESSAGE OR REGARDLESS it's still art, and that's why I would do it if I make / create or post pictures like that. The real idea behind it for me most of the time is simply art itself, whether I created and posted it, or like another picture. It's just like movies and videogames and villains or antiheroes ... they're just characters and if you like them you're a fan

Just because I like Sub Zero or Scorpion from Mortal Kombat or Megatron or Sixshot from Transformers doesn't mean I'm a bad person. They're just characters I'm a fan of, and in their own ficitional / fantasy universe they have their place

I don't make that type of artwork (faux propraganda or anything towards the "idea of propaganda" but unless it's totally abstract, art still represents something). The thing about some art is that it can be viewed in many or some other ways, and not just one ... but the thing with faux propaganda is that it usually represents oppression, power, politics, or war in some way and usually evil or aggressive in some way ... and that's obvious when you look at them, but of course the people making it (and especially back in the past) wanted to manipulate people into thinking "it's the right way to go, the right thing to support" when in fact it's obviously propaganda ... and most of the time, usually the only people who follow are already in prejudice, unless they're really naiave and easily manipulated. Either way they're idiots.

By today, if it was simply posted on DeviantART or some other gallery of art, maybe the intention "is simply art" but REGARDLESS OF INTENTION it still represents an idea

I feel that we live in a trivialized society in general (at least here in America) and that any attempts to make good use of propaganda will swiftly be met with cynicism or overzealousness. There was a time when it seemed the world knew what good and evil was and it was so easy to know right from wrong. But nowadays there is so much grey area that any one particular viewpoint will simply lead you down an infinitely confounding path.

Generally good work, some serious and some satirical. there is a certain satisfaction in distorting the traditional propaganda artwork-especially those that poke fun or point out the lies and/or distortions of religious,political and/or social change groups.

In my opinion, the contemporary examples of mass postering are political campaigns, mass media's regurgitation of spoon-fed information to the population, and ALL advertising. These are not posters, but they do represent an updated and more aggressive use of propaganda to get you to buy something - whether it is to buy goods and services, or to purchase mental "safety" by complying with the message. Examples are - vote for me because the other person is bad for America; buy our product and your life will be better; watch our news because it is flashy, lacks content, and you won't have to think or worry about reality because we'll think for you. And the underlying theme (drum roll) - FEAR!

From a literal poster perspective, corporate Hollywood (which is all of Hollywood), uses the poster art propaganda for both messages - to sell something and to sell compliance. Almost all Hollywood movies have either a "good conquers evil" or "love conquers all" theme - which in itself is garnering compliance of the masses through repetitious delivery of the same message in every movie, every day, every year. The cliche' happy ending feeds you your safety and your subconscious marches in lock-step with the movie's message - the guy always gets the girl because he defeated the evil bully, and the hero conquers the enemy with virtue, a strong work ethic, and a flashy smile. So, YOU MUST DO THE SAME (or else) - whoops, there's that fear thing again!

art have nothing to do with it...humans go to battle everyday ... sometimes it's "blue vs red", "curve or straight", as long as it is cool, humans will forever remember it... faux propaganda art is beautiful and that's probably why we keep on making it.

The problem as I see it is not the propaganda, but the inability of many in the population to interpret and understand it for what it is; ART. The arts have always been construed around a metaphysics whether that be religious art or fairy tales in a children's anthology. The power of this propaganda/come art is that it touches the emotions and takes the individual away from the painful truths. Of course soldiers with guns and grenades are going to be presented as heroes. Of course we are going to conceptualise these images according to our personal experiences, which for many women is the power of patriarchy, oppression and violence. Can we transcend the impacts of the politics and appreciate the 'artful' communication? 'Yes we can!' Can we draw on the visuals of devious propaganda to create good communications, such as the poignant messages conveyed in the posters highlighting poverty and mental illness? 'Yes we can!'

Here in New Zealand the government definitely used a long series of "Us vs Them" campaigns to turn us against people who smoke. The content had nothing to do with health and everything to do with emotionally excluding part of our community.

It would seem that one person's truth is another person's propaganda. Even when it is blatantly obvious to most that something is false, there will still be a certain percentage of people who will still believe it. It has been used in the United States since it was founded, by all political parties. People have to be open to the real truth, and that it the problem, and the reason why propaganda is so effective. Those in positions of power know that the majority of people would sooner accept an idea that is comforting, even if it's false, rather than to face a harsh reality. The truth can be really frightening sometimes.

I don't find commercials that exaggerate a product to be acceptable, I find them to be irritating. I usually complain about them to a point that makes my son yell at me to stop bitching about it, I also don't vote for obvious liars who make promises they know they cannot keep, simply to win an election.

Obviously to sell and market something but yeah I guess to entertain us sometimes too ... even though some are dumb and lame, and don't even have anything to do with the product. Some advertisements are just made to take notice, such as sexual advertisement

The reason propaganda will always exist and is still utilized (just because its more subtle doesn't mean its not there) is strength in numbers. WWII was fought and ultimately won by strength of numbers (allied side had greater population pools to dip into), Communist revolutions either succeed or failed based on strength of sympathizers to there cause in their respected regions of the world and China's rising power is drawn from the fact that even if 1% of the population is smart enough to be physicists that number will be greater than most nations of the the world and thus they can lead in technological advancement.

The other side of Propaganda is controlling perceptions for example the United States had Slavery for almost 100 years but the abolitionists were slowly shaping the nations perception that slavery wasn't a just institution, The Vietnam War wasn't hated because of the War itself (many nations have fought wars throughout history of that nature) but the perception among the hippie movement that it was a clearly unjust war and 9/11 itself was caused by manipulating perception to cause people to fly planes into buildings because they believe that killing infidels will get them 72 virgins.

So If you have control over the perceptions of a large population you become a very powerful individual. With all this in mind I see Faux Propaganda as admitting that on some level we desire to be controlled with propaganda. Are not most fans of something united? Do not most fans have at least on some level group think? For example most Silent Hill fans will talk about the first 4 games with extreme reverence but automatically trash the America made games as complete trash even though they haven't played them yet. I am sure with enough introspective and searching you can think of a moment were group think has affected your beliefs and view points.

As for the danger of faux propaganda I see none as it is already all around us. Most Americas for example ultimately don't question the America way/Dream that is because society itself and its social norms is determined by what propaganda is accepted as a whole. Without propaganda or group dynamics no society on this earth could function. Because to keep are high tech societies/civilizations running most of the population has to be heading in the same direction. Without at least some unfiying force we would rip each other apart as we all view how the world should be differently. Propaganda is the glue that keeps are highly individualist nature in check to allow us to work in a group.

With this in mind what we need to realize that there is no difference between workers unite and HOPE posters. They both have the same goal and intentions. To get a large group of people to unify together because as social creatures we desire a group but at the same time help us keep are highly individualist sides in check. An easy way to spot propaganda is what do you do without question or what preconceived notions do you have. The OP asked good questions and I hope I have added to the debate at large.

It's not just the government that uses propaganda and hip-sounding catchphrases to mind-control the masses, you know. There are certain political movements that do that, that are doing it right now, and many people are afraid to stand up to them.

Propaganda was needed to win people over to a particular way of thinking. That was because back then, people were often presented with both sides. But in today's Mass Media, the 'side' presented is carefully controlled and is *only* the one the powers that be want to be shown. That makes Propaganda unnecessary. People will already be thinking what is wanted, as that's the only side they are ever presented.

I've noticed that myself. All too many news articles are written in such a way as to persuade the reader of the "rightness" of a certain way of thinking. The most obvious trick that journalists use is to end their articles with a blurb or comment from the side of an argument the journalist is in favor of. To give that side the last word, as it were. To put that final thought in our malleable little minds. Yep, so-called journalists think we're that gullible. Maybe that's why newspapers and news media get such low marks from the public at large.